August 11/13 21:14 pm - Tour of Norway: Stage 3, 4 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 08/11/13

Bell Earns Most Aggressive Rider Honors in Norway

Champion System Pro Cycling Team's Zach Bell earned most aggressive honors on Sunday's Stage 4 of the Arctic Race of Norway after leading a solo attack from a six-man breakaway, while teammate Chris Butler finished just outside the top 10 at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

Bell, along with five other riders, escaped just before the first intermediate sprint of the 155-kilometre race. With a chasing peloton bearing down, Bell set off solo. The Canadian national road champion was the final escapee to get caught with 25 km remaining on the finishing circuits around Harstad.

"It was good to see that Zach's legs are coming back and he put in a strong ride today," Champion System General Manager Ed Beamon said. "Our aim was to get someone in the breakaway and it was great to see Zach get up there and finish it off."Champion System Pro Cycling Team

Official Race report

Race ambassador and race favorite Thor Hushovd was true to his words as he won the event of his dreams in the far north of Norway. His successful final sprint gave him the time bonus he needed in order to pass Kenny van Hummel in the overall classification.

It was not just another victory but an absolute triumph for the “Thunder God” [Thor in Scandinavian mythology] who has overcome health troubles and difficult time to come back as a great champion despite missing out on the Tour de France this year.

Neirynck becomes a property owner after winning first sprint of day

The pro riders were motivated by the promise of the mayor of Kongsvik to offer a piece of building land to the winner of the intermediate sprint located in his town at km 77 of racing. So after several skirmishes, the escape was formed just three kilometers before the crucial point where Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) became a landlord. The Belgian was faster than his five breakaway companions: Canada's national champion Zach Bell (Champion System), Edwig Cammaerts (Cofidis), Filip Eidsheim (Øster Hus-Ridley), Gilles Devilliers (Crelan-Euphony) and Steven Caethoven (Accent Jobs-Wanty).

Nordhaug is King of the Mountains

Even though Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Belkin) was assured of being the King of the Mountains of the Arctic Race of Norway, he showed once again that he was the best climber by winning the last price of the classification he led since day 1. After his acceleration, it was all together with 25km to go. Attacks kept going on with the likes of Baptiste Planckaert (Crelan-Euphony), Reidar Borgersen (Joker-Merida), Jetse Bol (Belkin) and Zico Waeytens (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) but it went down to a bunch sprint for the last intermediate sprint with two laps to. Hushovd was beaten on the line by Tony Hurel (Europcar). It meant the Norwegian was still one second behind Kenny van Hummel on GC.

Thor Hushovd: “I couldn’t let the public down”

“Well, that was deep”, reacted Thor Hushovd about the effort he was forced to produce for winning the final sprint uphill in the Skolegata (the school’s street) at Harstad. “Having not won the last intermediate sprint, I had to gain time over Van Hummel. Winning the stage was the best way to make it. Before coming to the Arctic Race of Norway, I said I wanted to win a stage and the overall, so I feel that it is mission accomplished now. It’s massive but it’s been hard. I was encouraged so much by the public that I couldn’t let them down. I had to win for all these people who came and support us, not only myself. I’m proud of what I’ve done but I’m even prouder of what my country has done for cycling this week. The support alongside the road has been incredibly fantastic, as well as the success of the race on TV. For Norwegians, this is the small Tour de France and they want it to look the same with the same enthusiasm. I don’t know if I’ll be the race ambassador for ever but for sure, the race has a great future.”